Metro
Judaic Partnership
Oakland U. seeks links with
Central Galilee college.
Diana Lieberman
Special to the Jewish News
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A24 November 1 • 2007
delegation from Oakland
University will travel to
Israel's Central Galilee in
April to work on establishing an
exchange program with Emek Yezreel
College.
Sponsored by the Jewish Federation
of Metropolitan Detroit, the trip is
part of an all-out effort by OU to
expand its offerings in Judaic studies,
while at the same time increasing stu-
dents' global perspectives.
"The study of Judaism and Islam
is not only the study
of religion, but is
also the study of cul-
ture and people in a
global scale," said Dr.
Ron Sudol, dean of
the Rochester-based
university's College of
Arts and Sciences.
Along with Jewish,
Ron Sudol
Christian and Islamic
studies, Oakland also
offers courses in the cultures and
languages of Southeastern Asia, Japan
and China.
"Even if students take individual
courses, separately from completing a
minor, we want them to have a sense
of the world we live in outside south-
east Michigan," Sudol said.
He anticipates that a partnership
with Emek Yezreel College would cen-
ter on a teacher training exchange.
Emek Yezreel (Jezreel Valley)
College, located in Federation's
Partnership 2000 region, is a school of
more than 2,000 students, including
many commuters. Although research
by professors is encouraged, the
emphasis on individualized teaching
has encouraged a large proportion of
first-generation college students.
While in Israel, the OU delegation
will meet with Dr. Aliza Shernhar,
Emek Yezreel president, along with
other faculty and community mem-
bers, said Amy Neistein, director
of Federation's Israel and Overseas
Department.
Robert Schostak of Franklin, an OU
graduate and immediate past chair of
the Israel and Overseas Department,
will lead the delegation, along with
his wife, Nancy Schostak, a former
steering committee member for
Partnership 2000
"We've done partnerships in the
past on behalf of Jewish Studies at the
University of Michigan and at Wayne
State University [in Detroit]," Neistein
said. "With the leadership of the
Schostaks, we feel this is an excellent
initiative."
Judaic Studies
Through the Schostak Foundation,
Robert and Nancy Schostak are
among the major donors
to OU's Judaic stud-
ies endowment fund.
Established in 2004 by
Birmingham-based attor-
ney Henry Baskin, this
fund has allowed OU to
offer courses in Judaic
Studies that can lead to
a minor concentration in
the field.
Classes have been taught by Dr. Seth
Korelitz, a teacher at Farmington
Hills-based Hillel Day School of
Metropolitan Detroit, and Rabbi
Dannel Schwartz of Congregation
Shir Shalom of West Bloomfield. Most
classes take place in the evenings, with
an average class size of 20 students.
Because the curriculum was estab-
lished so recently, no students are on
record as graduating with a minor in
Judaic studies, Sudol said.
Starting in fall 2008, five Judaic
studies courses — Introduction to
Judaism, Jewish Philosophy, History
of Jews in America, the Holocaust,
and Jewish Mysticism — will be
listed in the university catalogue with
separate course numbers. Dr. Sudol
explained that this will allow stu-
dents to include them as part of their
general studies requirement toward
graduation and will likely increase
course enrollment.
Next month, OU will host consul-
tant Dr. Steven Weitzman, the Irving
M. Glazer Chair in Jewish Studies at
Indiana University and director of IU's
Robert A. and Sandra Borns Jewish
Studies Program. Ll